gareth voss

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Gareth ("Gary") Voss came to the University of Kentucky to do research on the regenerative abilities of salamanders as a sophomore in high school. Now a freshman at UK, Gary has conducted research that resulted in two papers. "They're very good papers," says his UK mentor Dr. Randal Voss. "We're not just talking about a couple of throw-away papers to 'Ranger Rick' journal. We're sending these papers to the top journals in the United States.

"It really is a coup for UK when we can get our top local talent to stay in state. Gary's a National Merit Scholar, and he could have gone to any university he wanted to, but he chose to come to UK."

As a Paul Laurence Dunbar High School student, Gareth ("Gary") Voss came to the University of Kentucky to do research on the regenerative abilities of salamanders in Dr. Randal Voss's lab. Gary says, "At Dunbar in the Math-Science program, we have to join a faculty member at UK for a research project by the beginning of our junior year. And I heard about a professor at UK, who shared the same last name and the same first name, more or less, as my dad and his name is Randall Voss and he studies salamanders and regeneration.Things kind of clicked and I’ve been there ever since."

Gary's high-school project focused on tail regeneration. He notes, "I was not allowed to do any of the surgeries to remove the tails, but I was able to do the data analysis on the tails, and do a lot of interesting things in studying the regeneration of the salamanders."

Gary is now a freshman at UK majoring in biology and chemistry, and he says getting started early in research is really an advantage. "Getting started early gets you exposed to all the things you need to know. I was exposed to more things in genetics than most people my age would have been. Working in the lab not only puts you on the cutting edge of research and science, but it also lets you see all the things your classes are talking about in person, and to a greater extent."

When Gareth Voss, pictured with his father, political science Professor Steve Voss (right), and biology Professor Randall Voss (left), was tasked with finding a UK professor to work with on a project at Dunbar High School, he never thought that a common email mix-up would have such a lasting effect on his scholarly trajectory.